Notices
It was important that the public knew the arrival and
departure times of the mail coaches from the posting inns. The innkeepers, responsible for servicing the
coaches and their passengers, took it upon themselves to advertise these times
on printed notices placed throughout their neighbourhoods.
London was the hub of the mail service – letters came into the London office before being sorted and sent on to their final destination. London’s coaching inns that served the major postal routes became well known: for example The Bull and Mouth, St Martin’s-le-Grand; The Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane; and The Bolt in Tun, Fleet Street. Outside London, innkeepers also advertised the times of royal mail coaches, along with other coaches that regularly carried passengers across the country.
These notices are valuable sources of information about local inns and about the names of people who were involved in the business of servicing the mail coaches and providing details about other transport services operating at the time. We can even learn something about other local traders such as printers and booksellers.
These notices, of
course, were never intended to have a long life. They would have been thrown away as soon as the
information was out of date, or they were damaged by bad weather or even
defaced by vandals. This has meant that
few mail coach notices have survived to the present day. We are very lucky to have been able to acquire
these particular items for our collections thanks to the V&A
Purchase Grant Fund.
We have purchased notices from the following posting inns:
- The Golden Cross, Charing Cross
- The King's Arms Inn, Snow Hill
- The Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane
- The Bolt in Tun, Fleet Street
- The Saracen's Head, Dale Street, Liverpool
In addition, we have a general notice advertising mail services in York.
